• Monday, May 1 10:43 a.m. Three non-gentlemen harassing customers behind a Valley West store were all clad in a utilitarian garment – a cotton sweatshirt of sorts, with an open pocket at the front and a built-in hood. The latter feature is useful both for retaining warmth and somewhat obscuring one’s identity while going…

• Tuesday, August 16 4:26 a.m. Armed with a flashlight, a backwards baseball cap and a crazy dream, a man grubbed through the recycling at a Courtyard Circle apartment complex. 3:54 p.m. Surly sidewalk slumpers again heaped up in front of a vacant storefront on H Street, which is why it’s vacant. • Wednesday, August…

Kevin L. Hoover Mad River Union ARCATA – A trashy campsite deep in the forest has yielded possible new clues about the builder of the immaculate tiny house in the Arcata Community Forest (ACF). Discovered by city workers last year and later cleared out and demolished by its builder, the mysterious cabin drew interest from…

City of Arcata PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LOOSE YAK IN REDWOOD PARK On 10/11/14 at about 2:05 PM, APD received a phone call about a loose yak on the 700 block of Fickle Hill Rd. Officers responded and found a yak roaming free. The yak was skittish and would not allow officers near it. …

• Monday, August 12 4:03 p.m. The yaksmen had a negative encounter with a bicyclist in the forest, documenting a brief duel with tree branches afterward. Yak-walker Tom Vanciel sent APD an e-mail message last week stating that he was in a veterans’ hospital in the Bay Area. “X-rays here reveal a broken jaw and a…

“Please inform your readers and general public that though reported as argumentative, in fact, the ‘Yakmen’ are committed to peacefully non violent change from this totalitarian police surveillance state,” Vanciel wrote. “Just like Gandhi, we recognize that peaceful resistance is the only way.”

One neighbor respected Vanciel as a rugged individualist with certain personal issues, but not malevolent in any way. The neighbor said Vanciel was happy and calm when at home with his beloved animals.